


Waiting For Daylight

by dinosaursmate



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Age Difference, Blow Jobs, Hand Jobs, Louis is lost, M/M, Multiverse, Mutual Masturbation, Parallel Universes, Read the notes!, emotionally, there are so many tropes in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-27 12:01:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13880445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dinosaursmate/pseuds/dinosaursmate
Summary: “The number you have dialled has not been recognised. Please check and try again.”Louis made his way into the kitchen and sighed, throwing his phone down onto the table and frowning at it.“What’s the matter, honey?” his mum asked.“I… I don’t know. My phone seems to have erased every last trace of Harry.”“Ooh, who’s Harry?” she cooed. “A boy?”Louis rolled his eyes. “Harry, Mum. Styles. From number thirty-eight.”“Oh, sweetheart. The Waynes live at number thirty-eight. Shall I pour you some tea?”-Louis wakes up to find that his best friend has never existed. In a quest to find him, Louis is sent to several parallel universes. He can't seem to find his own Harry, and he doesn't understand why every alternate Harry wants to kiss him.-Also known as: the most self-indulgent fic a writer ever could write.





	Waiting For Daylight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FallingLikeThis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallingLikeThis/gifts).



> Happy birthday Tabby aka [ FallingLikeThis](http://archiveofourown.org/users/FallingLikeThis/pseuds/FallingLikeThis)!! this fic is based off of [this anon](http://dinosaursmate.tumblr.com/post/171267356831/now-that-you-mentioned-it-i-desperately-want-a) about my tags on [this post.](http://dinosaursmate.tumblr.com/post/171220196646/stockhlmsyndrome-imagine-being-locked-in-a-room) Tabby since admitted to me she sent the anon and I managed to get this done with enough time to publish it on her birthday! Yay!
> 
> Okay so, Louis travels to several alternate universes, all of which happen to be my own fics (except for one guest star!) I'll list them all in order at the end as not to spoil anything. You probably don't have to have read the fics in question but I think you'll get something different out of some bits if you have. Please be aware there are SPOILERS abound for practically every fic featured.
> 
> I didn't list each individual trope because they're only glimpses and there's so many of them but if you're concerned, maybe check the list of fics featured at the end and check if there's anything you might be uncomfortable with. 
> 
> One last thing: there is a perfectly legal but quite sizable age gap in one part of this fic. Louis is 21 and Harry is quite a bit older so if you're sensitive about that stuff you might wanna peace out. I think and hope I have written it in a way that will be easy to read.
> 
> The lovely [Cher](http://cher1808.tumblr.com/) betad for me! <3

“You busy tomorrow?”

Harry looked up from his phone. “Um… no. Why?”

“I thought maybe we could go to the cinema. And there’s that new Indian restaurant on the high road we said we were gonna try.”

“Sounds great!” Harry beamed. “Can we go, like, late afternoon? I wanna stay in bed until at least midday.”

Louis laughed and shrugged. “You’re the boss.”

Harry had been Louis’ best friend since he was eighteen. Harry had moved in down the road and he was a bright-eyed sixteen year old with a contagious excitement for almost everything. Three years on, they were inseparable. They lived at either end of Rusholme Grove and even at nineteen and twenty-one, they still spent almost all their spare time in each other’s company. 

“My mum wants to get another cat,” Harry told Louis as he walked him to the door. “But not a kitten.”

“Why not a kitten? Kittens are the best.”

“Too much energy, apparently.”

Louis smirked. “She must be looking forward to you moving out, then.”

Harry said one last thank you to Louis’ mum for inviting him for dinner and he headed home. They both still lived with their parents, but they had been talking about moving to London once they were both finished with university. Louis looked forward to it. He just hoped Harry didn’t find a better offer in the meantime. 

Louis watched some television, had a shower, and turned in for an early night. He scrolled the cinema listings for a while but ultimately decided to leave the decision up to Harry. He plugged his phone in to charge, dropped it onto his bedside table and rolled over to go to sleep.

-

Louis woke up feeling strange. When he checked his phone, he knew why.

He had slept for  _ thirteen _ hours. How did that happen?! He groaned softly and climbed out of bed. His body was stiff. Heavy and sore. He went for a wee, occupying his mind with his plans for the day. He wondered if Harry was up yet. 

He would go downstairs, make himself some breakfast, and ring Harry. Surely Harry was up. He quickly washed his hands and as he made his way down to the kitchen, he scrolled his recent calls to find Harry’s name.

It wasn’t there. Stupid iPhones. He sighed and opened his phone book, frowning when there was nothing under H. He opened Whatsapp. There was no conversation with Harry in the app.

This was weird. Whenever they were apart, all they did was Whatsapp. Louis frowned before he remembered that he knew Harry’s number off by heart. He quickly typed it in and pressed call.

_ “The number you have dialled has not been recognised. Please check and try again.” _

Louis made his way into the kitchen and sighed, throwing his phone down onto the table and frowning at it.

“What’s the matter, honey?” his mum asked.

“I… I don’t know. My phone seems to have erased every last trace of Harry.”

“Ooh, who’s Harry?” she cooed. “A  _ boy?” _

Louis rolled his eyes. “Harry, Mum. Styles. From number thirty-eight.”

“Oh, sweetheart. The Waynes live at number thirty-eight. Shall I pour you some tea?”

“Um…” Louis frowned deeper. “Yes please. Are you sure? I’m talking about thirty-eight. Your best friend lives there! Anne Twist?!”

“What are you talking about, Louis?” Jay frowned with mild annoyance. “Karen Payne is my best friend. She lives over in Salford, remember?”

Louis wasn’t sure what was going on, and things didn’t get any better once he had quickly dressed and gone off in search of Harry. He knocked at Harry’s house but an unfamiliar, very annoyed woman answered the door. He went to the posh cinema in the city centre where Harry had a part time job, but nobody there knew what on earth he was on about.

He didn’t know what to do, or what to think. He got a coffee from Starbucks and skulked off in the direction of home. It started to rain, which made him feel even more miserable. His lovely, vibrant best friend. Erased from the face of the planet.

Okay, so maybe he was being a little overdramatic. There was no way Harry could have just… disappeared. He would absolutely, definitely get to the bottom of it. He just needed to get home first, but he reckoned he should find somewhere to sit down because he had started to feel dizzy. Before he realised what was happening, his coffee slipped from his grasp and he was tumbling to the floor before everything went black.

-

Louis came to, dazed and confused and uncomfortable. When he opened his eyes, he realised he was in a bathroom, and he was curled up in the bathtub. 

“What the fuck?” he murmured, pulling himself to sit up and look around. It was certainly an unfamiliar bathroom, and his instinct was to run his hands over his body quickly to check he hadn’t been beaten up or had any organs removed. He was fully dressed, trainers and all, so he climbed out of the bath and decided to try and make his way home. If he could get out, and if he could work out where he was.

He snuck out into the hallway. He definitely didn’t recognise this house, but the low rumble of a familiar voice came from one of the rooms. Louis sighed, rolling his eyes as he approached the door.

“Just waiting for Lou to get home and we’re going for dinner.” Harry’s voice was muffled through the closed door but Louis was close enough, now, to hear every word. “Not yet. I’ll tell him over dinner. He knows I’ve been unhappy at the supermarket for a while so he’s gonna be really pleased for me, I know.”

Louis scoffed and pushed the door open.

“What bloody supermarket? Harry, I’ve been looking for you  _ everywhere.” _

“Gotta go, Mum!” Harry said quickly. “I’ll ring you later, love you, bye.”

Harry threw his phone onto the bed, grinning stupidly. Something looked different about Harry. He reminded Louis of when Harry was a little younger, on the brink of adulthood, not yet jaded by the real world. 

“Hi!” Harry sighed and crossed the room. “I came in here to get changed and my mum rang. I missed you.”

Louis rolled his eyes again and went to speak when Harry suddenly pulled him close and planted a huge kiss on his lips. Louis was too stunned to respond. When Harry pulled away, smiling softly as if he had just done the most normal thing in the world, Louis took a step backwards.

“What the fuck was that?!”

“What?” Harry asked, looking disappointed. “You’re not still mad about the cold hands incident from this morning, are you?”

“Harry,  _ what _ is going on?” Louis felt panic starting to creep in as he took another step backwards. “You’re freaking me out.”

Harry frowned and took a step forward. Louis took yet another step backwards and felt his back hit the closed door with a thud, and suddenly his vision went black and he was staring up at grey clouds and his face was being pelted with rain.

He was surrounded by strangers. What he could gather was that he was laying flat on the wet pavement, and the stark contrast of the cold rain against the warmth of the right side of his torso told him he had spilt his coffee all over himself. He concluded that he must have fainted.

“Are you alright, mate?” a voice asked. 

“Can you stand?” another asked.

“Um…” Louis blinked a few times. “I think so.”

The strangers helped Louis to his feet. What a  _ great _ way to top off a simply  _ wonderful _ day. Louis felt embarrassed, for both his fall and for his little… fever dream, or whatever it was. 

Or maybe he had imagined everything. Surely Harry disappearing off the face of the earth was part of the fever dream, along with the whole kissing thing. He sighed in relief, thanked the strangers for their help and headed off home. When he got in, he headed straight for his room to get changed.

The photos on his wall of him and Harry were gone. The stuffed frog that Harry won him in Blackpool last year that he kept on his DVD shelf was gone.

Harry was still gone.

-

Louis woke up the next morning and his eyes darted straight for his photo wall. Still nothing.

He was miserable over breakfast. His mum kept glancing at him worriedly and it was winding him up. He was trying to ignore thinking about the whole sorry saga, if he was honest, because he felt very much on the brink of a complete meltdown. What was wrong with him? It obviously wasn’t a real thing that was actually happening. It was all in his head. 

“Darling?” Jay said carefully. “Is everything okay?”

“Fine.”

She frowned. “I was thinking of going to Karen’s. Would you like to come?”

“No.”

“Liam will be there. You like Liam.”

“Mum!” Louis shouted, before wincing and sighing. “I’m sorry. I just want to be on my own.”

“Who is Anne Twist?” Jay asked.

“I don’t know!” he whined. “She’s Harry’s mum!”

He wasn’t going to cry. Not here. He needed to get to his room and have his freak out in the privacy of his own bedroom. He quickly finished his cereal and stood to leave the room, and he barely had time to register how dizzy he felt as he started to fall to the ground and with a thud, he found himself in another bathtub.

What was with the bathtubs? Louis sighed and tipped his head backwards, wincing when he cracked it on the taps. He was almost scared to leave the bathroom. What would he find? This wasn’t the same bathroom that belonged to kissy Harry from yesterday. 

He climbed out of the bath and tentatively opened the bathroom door. He seemed to be in another flat. It was warm and modern, and the shoes by the door indicated to him that he lived here. Shit. Was there another Louis? What if he came face to face with him?

Of course, this was all a figment of his fevered imagination, so it didn’t matter too much. He tiptoed down the hall and poked his head around an ajar door. He could see a Christmas tree - that was odd, since it was April - which was covered in blue and green lights and tinsel, and he could just about make out ornaments on the tree: an H one, and an L one.

Louis let out a quiet, pitiful whine and rubbed his forehead. He walked into the room. It was a living room with a tiny kitchen leading off from it, and when he walked further into the L-shaped room he found a balcony overlooking the street.

“Nice place,” Louis admitted to himself. He sat down on the sofa. The Christmas decorations were completely over the top, and that immediately told him that Harry lived here, too. 

“Morning!”

Louis’ eyes darted up and immediately felt a blush creep onto his face. Harry was standing in front of him - he looked a bit older that the Harry Louis knew - wearing nothing but a tiny pair of pink boxers that didn’t really leave much to the imagination.

Louis was startled by a little stir of arousal in his groin. He had to admit that Harry looked pretty good. Not that  _ his  _ Harry didn’t, but this Harry was… ripped. He had more tattoos. Longer hair. It was a very confusing feeling for Louis.

“Tea?” Harry asked.

“Um… yes. Please.”

“No work today?” Harry said as he walked into the kitchen. “Hey! You already made the tea! I’ll pour it out.”

“I… called in sick. I don’t feel well.”

“Aww.” Harry poked his head out from the kitchen and pouted. “What did Liam say?”

“Oh, yeah. He was cool about it.”

Harry emerged a few seconds later with two cups of tea. He handed one to Louis and sat next to him on the sofa. It was very strange for Louis. 

“So! You’re not at work today. We should order pizza.”

Louis’ confused, anxious state was affecting his stomach, so he didn’t really feel like eating. Then again, who knew how long he would be here? Was he even really here? His head was starting to hurt.

“Maybe,” he said.

“Do you need anything?” Harry frowned. “You don’t look so good.”

Harry pressed the back of his hand on Louis’ forehead and Louis stopped breathing. Harry’s touch was so familiar yet so alien. Harry chewed on his bottom lip as his eyebrows knitted together.

“Maybe you should go back to bed, Lou.”

“I’m okay.”

Harry smiled softly and ran the back of his finger over Louis’ cheekbone. He was staring at Louis as if he had hung the moon and Louis started to feel under scrutiny.

“I’m gonna be here all day to look after you, yeah?” Harry nodded encouragingly. “Why don’t you go to your room? Go to bed and I’ll make you a hot water bottle.”

_ “My  _ room?” So, they weren’t a couple. That made the face stroking a little weirder. “Alright.”

Harry’s lips parted as if he was going to speak, but instead he moved his face minutely closer. Louis let out a tiny gasp and allowed his eyes to close, and suddenly he felt something cold and hard on his back. The smell of coffee breath wafted up his nose and he opened his eyes to the surprising vision of his mother standing over him, looking worried.

“Darling, are you alright? You fainted.”

Shit, fucking shit. He was back in the bloody kitchen. He hated that. He hated that he was back in a world with no Harry. He hated that he’d had another  _ dream _ or whatever it was, and he hated that he’d really, really wanted Harry to kiss him.

“I think so. I fainted yesterday, too.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?!” his mother cried. “You should see a doctor.”

“I think I’m just, um… tired. Maybe I should go back to bed.”

“Don’t you have uni today, darling?”

Louis shrugged. “Not until this afternoon. I’ll see if I feel better.”

Louis ran up the stairs and climbed into bed. What was happening to him? He pulled the covers up to his neck and tried to think about it logically.

Maybe he  _ was _ ill, and these were fever dreams. He felt fine, though, when he wasn’t fainting. Then again, even this wasn’t his normal reality, as Harry didn’t exist here. Maybe he had dreamt up Harry?!

He groaned and slid down flat in his bed. This was so confusing and scary. It was almost as if he was travelling to other universes in which he and Harry knew each other. But why? Maybe he would find  _ his _ Harry somewhere along the way.

The whole thing was obviously in his head, but at this point the only thing he could do was go along with it. One of these days he would likely wake up in a hospital instead of a bathtub, but right now, all he wanted to do -  _ needed _ to do - was find Harry.  _ His _ Harry. Maybe he was hiding in another reality or maybe Louis was trying to get back to his own. The only thing he could hope for was that he and Harry find themselves back together in their own reality.

-

He wasn’t going to uni. Why should he? This wasn’t his universe. And he just wasn’t prepared to make a life for himself in a universe without Harry.

He took a shower and, as he was getting dressed, he started to feel dizzy.

“Shit,” he murmured, dashing over to his bed and laying down. As he felt himself blacking out, he knew at least that his body would be safe while he was gone.

Louis climbed out of the bath and looked around. He deduced that this was Harry’s family bathroom, as there was plenty of evidence that a woman used it (toiletries would be inconclusive when it came to Harry, however, Louis didn’t think even Harry could find a use for tampons). He tiptoed into the hallway and heard noises from downstairs. He was about to descend the stairs when he heard Harry cough from a bedroom.

The door was ajar so Louis peered around it. He was taken aback to see quite a young Harry, sixteen or seventeen. He looked just like Louis’ Harry did when they first met. Harry was staring at his computer screen, absently eating from a bag of crisps. He tipped the last crumbs into his mouth and dropped some on his face.

“Damn,” he muttered.

Louis pushed the door and walked into the room. Harry’s head snapped around to look at him.

“Hello. Who are you? If you’re looking for the toilet, then-”

“I’m here to see you, Harry.”

Harry’s eyes widened and he stood to his feet cautiously. “Um… who are you?”

“Louis.”

Harry blanched, his knees wobbling as if he was going to fall over.  _ “You’re  _ Louis?”

“Um… yeah.”

Harry stared at him in clear amazement. “Wow. You’re good looking. Are you really only eighteen?”

Louis raised his eyebrows. “I don’t lie about my age, Hazza.”

Harry let out a little manic laugh. The computer pinged and Louis turned his head to look at the screen. Harry had received a message from someone called  _ Louis91 _ and… oh God.

Harry was talking to Louis online. From the sounds of it, the alternate Louis hadn’t even sent Harry a photo. Another message came through and it dawned on Louis that he was currently existing in this universe alongside his counterpart and that was freaky enough for him, but Harry currently looked seconds away from passing out.

“How are you… here and still talking on there? I’m so… what are you doing here, anyway? How the hell did you find me?”

“It’s a long story. Don’t worry about any of that right now.”

Harry visibly swallowed as he found his courage and started to walk closer to Louis. He stopped a few inches in front of him, still staring at him in wonder.

“You’re really good looking.”

“You already said that, love.”

“I have to tell you,” Harry said, not much louder than a whisper. “I fancy you a bit.”

Harry was so hesitant and shy that Louis found himself slipping his hand around the back of Harry’s neck. Harry’s breath caught in his throat as Louis closed the space between them and kissed him. Louis could feel tiny little sparks rushing through his body. This felt so right that, in the moment, it seemed stupid and nonsensical to Louis that they didn’t do this in his own world. Louis had no idea why he seemed to be romantically involved with Harry in every universe but his own, but all he knew was that it felt good. Really good.

Harry felt good, too. He was becoming more and more eager with his kisses, pressing firmly against Louis’ lips. His hands skated quickly all over Louis’ body and when Louis felt his fingertips pushing under the hem of his t-shirt, he had to pull away. There was absolutely no way he was going to go there with a sixteen year old, even if it was Harry.

“Slow down, babe.”

Harry sighed loudly and placed his hands on Louis’ chest. “Why did you use my photo, Lou? You’re so gorgeous.”

“I did what?” Louis head had started to swim. He didn’t want to leave yet. He wanted to keep that smile on this Harry’s face and he wanted to know what was going on, but the next thing he knew he was laying on his bed staring up at the ceiling.

He sat up, a little too quickly, and pondered his situation. He was past freaking out about it now, and he had to think practically. In every  _ place _ he went to, he and Harry were an item in some form or another, or at least seemed on the verge of it. Maybe he’d had a crush on Harry without realising and this was his subconscious letting out its frustration. Or maybe it was Harry. Maybe he was some kind of wizard and he was showing Louis exactly what he was missing out on.

Probably not. But  _ something _ implausible was happening here.

-

It had been four days. Four days of living without Harry, his own or any other Harry. Louis wondered if he had broken the spell, or whatever it was. He surely hadn’t if Harry wasn’t back. By the third day, he was trying to work out if there was anything he had done every other time to trigger his universe-hopping, or whatever. He tried drinking coffee. He tried taking a shower. He tried eating chips with lots of vinegar. Nothing worked.

But on the fourth day, he just moped around the house. His mother thought he had been going to uni, but not only did he have absolutely no desire or incentive to, it was dangerous. He never knew when he would pass out, so he reckoned he was safer staying indoors.

So, he moped. He stayed up until 4am watching Harry’s favourite crappy Netflix films and, when he finally went to sleep, he tried not to cry.

-

When Louis woke up, he was startled to find himself in a bathtub.

He had never  _ gone away _ whilst asleep before. He wondered if that was significant, although he soon realised he should focus on the matter at hand. Especially because this bathroom was unlike the others. Very unlike the others.

First of all, he wasn’t cramped like he usually was. He discovered that the bath was oval shaped and very generous in size, with shiny, silver taps on the side of the tub.

“What the fuck?” he whispered as he climbed out. Everything in this bathroom was marble or gold and Louis felt out of place. Where the hell was he?

He heard voices from outside and so he cracked the door open. He seemed to be in what looked a bit like a studio flat but it was so ridiculously lavish that it didn’t make any sense. A second later, he saw Harry. And himself.

He was absolutely gobsmacked with what he saw. Harry was on the bed, dressed only in his boxers with his dick in his hand, hard and red. Louis felt his face flush pink.

“Oh, my god,” he whispered.

Harry was… wanking. He was touching himself and looking at the other Louis, who was watching him avidly. The other Louis was hard in his trousers and his fingers were gripping the armrests of the plush, white chair he was sitting in. 

“Louis…” Harry said, and Louis thought for a second he’d been caught. “Are you… hard?”

It was strange for Louis to watch himself like this. His counterpart looked different, but he couldn’t quite pinpoint how. He seemed very confident. Not that Louis wasn’t, but this guy seemed  _ super  _ confident. It was unnerving and exciting, all at once.

Louis’ counterpart was pulling his dick out and Louis couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He looked back and forth between the pair as they watched each other get off, moaning and whining as the air became thick and hot. Louis couldn’t decide if it was more awkward to watch himself wank or to watch his best friend wank. Either way, Harry looked much better than he did. Louis kept his eyes firmly on Harry.

Louis covered his mouth, eyes widening as Harry came with Louis’ name on his lips. It was entirely obscene. His best friend just came saying his name, and the weirdest bit was that, from the slight tingle in his groin, Louis actually thought he might have a semi from it.

He reluctantly turned his attention to his counterpart, as did Harry, who shuffled down to the end of the bed to watch closely.

“Wish I could touch you,” Harry said.

“You can.”

“Uh… no. No.”

Louis found that curious, but put it in the back of his mind as his counterpart quickly took his t-shirt off. Embarrassment coursed through him. 

“Really wanna fuck you,” Louis’ counterpart told Harry.

The embarrassment worsened. As if he had just said that to Harry. He groaned quietly as his counterpart started to come, and loudly. Harry seemed pleased, at least. Louis stepped backwards and leaned against the wall, rubbing his face. It was all a little overwhelming. 

He sighed to himself, which almost made him miss the footsteps. The door swung inwards, and Louis came face to face with… himself.

_ “What are you doing in the prince’s bathroom?!” _ his counterpart yelled, before freezing and staring in disbelief. “What the  _ fuck?” _

_ Prince?  _ Louis stammered over a reply, trying to find words,  _ any _ words, but then Harry burst into the room, alarms and sirens started wailing and everything went black.

Louis woke up in a cold sweat in his bed. He bolted upright and struggled to catch his breath.

-

Over breakfast, Louis got lost in thought. What if he had messed up the universe or something by being discovered by his counterpart? Couldn’t it have, like, ripped the fabric of time, or something?

Surely not. It wasn’t exactly that he was travelling through time, right? He wasn’t travelling backwards, or forwards, just… sideways. To universes outside of his own. Replicas of his world, where everything was almost the same, just a little bit different. It sounded unbelievable, but Louis had seen scientists say that multiple universes were possible. Stephen Hawking had once said there could be another universe in which NSYNC had never split up.

Louis smirked to himself. If there was a universe where Harry was a prince, anything could happen.

Anyway, who cares if he messed things up? His own universe was messed up as it is. His Harry was still missing, and he needed to get him back. He couldn’t decide whether he thought this was another alternate universe in itself. After all, everything seemed the same apart from Harry being gone. Which, in fact, was everything.

Louis was losing his mind. He had to get out of the house. Who to call when his best friend no longer existed?

-

“Thanks for coming with me.”

“No problem!” Niall said brightly. “You know how much I love a good Nando’s.”

Niall went to Manchester uni with both Harry and Louis, and Louis met him at football club. It was essentially the only thing that Louis ever did without Harry. They made the short journey to Nando’s on foot and when they sat down and looked at their menus, Louis peered over his at Niall.

“Did I ever talk to you about my mate, Harry?”

“Harry?” Niall frowned, never taking his eyes off his menu. “Harry Jensen? Plays rugby? I heard he was gonna ask you out.”

“No, I- really? No.” Louis shook his head. “Harry Styles?”

“Never heard of him, mate.”

Louis sighed and scraped his chair back noisily. He went up to the counter to order his food and when he returned, he sat at the table while Niall ordered his own food.

His stomach was hurting a bit. All this… universe-hopping was wearing him down. He had mostly just accepted it now - as if he could do anything else - and he knew this was probably a mental issue that would come to a head soon. He knew he should probably get himself checked out. But if this was the only way to be with Harry,  _ ever,  _ he wasn’t all that sure that he could bring himself to get help.

Niall returned and Louis headed to the machine to pour them both some Coke. Just as he approached, he started to feel himself becoming dizzy.

“No, no, no, not now!” He quickly placed the glasses by the machine as he felt the room sway and spin. “Fuck.”

He sighed as soon as he felt the cold surface of the bathtub. He opened his eyes to look around and try and gauge his surroundings. There were no clues, although it was a small bathroom with probably just enough toiletries for one person. Louis climbed out of the bath and looked around. 

“Hm,” he hummed. “A douche. A clean boy.”

This Harry definitely didn’t live with his parents, then. Louis continued to snoop, sniffing the shampoo and the shower gel and reading bottles he couldn’t identify.

“Skin lightening cream?” Louis knitted his eyebrows together as he peered at the label. “‘Evens skin tone in intimate areas.’ Oh.”

Louis widened his eyes and put the bottle back where he had found it. He tried not to think about that as he tiptoed towards the door. He opened the door and the place seemed quiet, although he heard some kind of rustling or shuffling coming from an ajar door across the hallway. As soon as he peered around the door, he let out a quiet gasp and jerked his head backwards.

He had just seen Harry’s arse. Harry’s… entire arse. Not only did he now understand what Harry used the skin lightening cream for, he now knew that it was working just fine.

He swallowed and moved back to the door. Harry had switched positions, now. He was up on his knees and had shuffled to the end of the bed, towards a camera that Louis hadn’t seen a second ago. Harry pinched his nipples, holding still for a second before the camera automatically snapped a photo. 

Harry sighed and sat back on the bed, cross-legged. He looked at his soft cock between his legs and pouted.

“Hard? Soft? Hm. Soft.” He grabbed hold of his cock and dragged his hand up and down it. “Semi.”

Louis watched, transfixed as Harry quickly tugged at himself to bring himself to a state of half-hardness. He carefully laid his cock up onto his stomach and pulled a tiny camera remote from under his pillow. He snapped a couple of photos, before repositioning the camera and posing again. 

Louis felt himself becoming aroused. He was pretty comfortable by now with the fact that he was attracted to Harry, but this was pushing him too far. He groaned and palmed at his hardening cock. If this whole thing was just to prove to Louis that he was attracted to Harry, it had done its job. Well done. But he would very much have liked to do something about it.

Harry grabbed the camera and looked through the photos he had taken. Louis took the opportunity to silently slip into the room, his palms sweating. As always, he had no idea what his counterpart’s relationship was to Harry, but he was nervous this time. 

“Oh!” Harry started. “Oh, God. You scared me!”

“Sorry.”

Harry grinned softly. “What are you doing here? How did you get in?”

“Um…”

“You know what?” Harry sighed and shook his head. “I can’t stop thinking about those photos I took of you the other day.”

Louis widened his eyes but tried to keep himself composed. “Oh?”

“Oh, God. The photos of you on the windowsill with your hand in your jeans is just... “ Harry looked away and smiled. “It’s so sexy.”

“Sexy?”

Harry turned to look at him again. “Will you just  _ consider _ doing a nude shoot for me? I just really love photographing the nude form and I’d love to have another subject, even if you don’t let me post them on my blog.” 

Louis tried to discreetly look Harry up and down. So, Harry posted nudes on a blog. How interesting. He wished he could see it. “Um, okay. I’ll think about it.”

“You’d be so great at it!” Harry said, brightening. “You don’t necessarily need to be well-endowed or anything, in fact I think-”

“Excuse me?!” Louis replied indignantly. “My cock is more than adequate, thank you very much.”

Harry’s eyes fell to Louis’ crotch. Louis saw a tiny twitch in his eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“Absolutely.”

Harry looked up at him and dropped his eyes again. “I’ll take your word for it.”

Louis’ heart jolted as he got a surge of bravery. “I’ll show it to you, if you want.”

Harry barely contained a smile. “Alright.”

“I’m afraid it won’t be too relative to its normal size, because I’ve been getting  _ so  _ hard just watching you.”

The slight smile Harry wore on his face slipped away and his lips parted. Louis smirked as Harry shuffled to the edge of the bed to sit directly in front of him. Louis slowly started to unbuckle his belt but Harry placed his hands on Louis’ to stop him.

“Allow me,” he said quietly.

Louis’ breath quickened as Harry got his belt undone and his fingers moved to Louis’ button. He flicked it open, pulled down the zip and tugged at his jeans. He quickly pulled Louis’ boxers down over his erection and nodded.

“Yeah. You’re right. It’s… a decent size.”

Louis scoffed softly. “It’s more than that, darling.”

Harry smirked. He ran his hands over Louis’ hips, dragging them down to squeeze at his supple thighs. Louis swallowed.

“I’ve been wanting to touch you for ages,” Harry murmured as his thumb grazed the base of Louis’ cock. 

Louis sighed tensely. “Feels so good.”

Harry took a deep breath and wrapped a hand around Louis’ cock. Sharp stabs of arousal shot through Louis’ body and he knew this was what he was supposed to do. It was his destiny. Harry was his best friend, but it took this whole crazy episode to realise that Harry was his soulmate.

He couldn’t help but whine when Harry kissed the tip of his cock and his shaft. As he wrapped his lips around Louis’ cock and took him in, Louis closed his eyes and prayed and prayed that he wouldn’t be zoomed away any minute. This wasn’t his universe, nor was it his Harry, but he hoped the powers that be would at least give him this. Give him the chance to enjoy the feeling of being with Harry. He didn’t know whether it was because he was travelling through dimensions or universes or whatever he was doing, but this feeling was the best in the world.

“God, Harry.” Louis slid his fingers into Harry’s long curls. “You’re amazing.”

Harry let out a breathy whine and took even more of Louis in until his nose brushed Louis’ lower stomach. Louis let out a noise that sounded a bit like a gurgle as Harry pushed even further and he felt the tip of his cock nudge Harry’s throat.

_ “Fuck,  _ God.” Louis clenched his eyes shut as he felt his orgasm building.  _ Please, please. _ “I’m gonna… gonna come.”

Harry moaned loudly and swept his hands around to grope at Louis’ arse. Louis growled out a whine, his head swimming as everything overwhelmed him and his orgasm started to crest.

“Ah-  _ ah…” _

As he came, or so he thought, his cries of ecstasy morphed into exasperated cries of  _ no, no  _ as he was cruelly snatched away and deposited straight back onto the hard floor of his local Nando’s. 

“No!” he growled as he opened his eyes. Five or six concerned strangers had circled him and were looking down, frowning. Niall was peeking between the shoulders of two women, looking stunned and a little embarrassed.

His eyes flickered down to Louis’ crotch and Louis knew before he  _ knew.  _ Here he was, staring at the slightly water-damaged ceiling of Nando’s, still hard from the blow job he did or didn’t receive and never got to come from. He scrambled to his feet, headed over to his table and snatched his things. He hot footed it out of the restaurant.

“Louis! Lou!” Niall jogged after him. “What about your food? Do you need to go to hospital?!”

Louis broke into a run. Leaving his house was a mistake. A big mistake.

-

Not that Louis was the sort of person to be  _ dramatic _ or anything, but as soon as he got home he burst into tears.

It wasn’t about the fact that he had finally got with Harry only to be transported or whatever the fuck happened before he could come. Okay, maybe it was partly that, but he was just so frustrated. If this was his reality now, he was probably going to have to stop putting his life on hold. But how could he do that? How could he go to uni or work when he could just… fall out of the universe at any given moment?

He sighed as he wiped his eyes and climbed into bed. He supposed it was time he made a doctor’s appointment. He wasn’t exactly looking forward to hearing a doctor’s reaction but at this point, what did he have to lose? He couldn’t start a relationship with an endless amount of different Harrys who he couldn’t even finish a date or a sexual encounter with. 

Louis sighed again as he climbed back out of bed. Maybe he would have a long soak in the bath. No. He was sick of bathtubs.

As soon as his feet hit the plush carpet of his bedroom floor, he felt his head start to swim.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” he yelled as loudly as he could. “This is ridic- ridicu-”

He was in a cramped space, that he knew, but it wasn’t a bathtub. He didn’t have much time to ponder the change of modus operandi before he realised he was in this cramped space with two other men. He looked up. He was in some kind of… cabin. A tiny, tiny cabin with bunk beds, two up and two down. This was certainly different to anywhere else he had… popped into. Was he on a ship?

The two men in the room were Harry and this universe’s Louis. They were both lying down, squashed together in one little bed, and Louis took Harry’s hand.

“The engines have stopped.”

Louis scrambled to his feet. He stood staring at the two men in disbelief. Louis had an awful feeling about this, and he wasn’t sure if it was because of the situation or a new quirk of his universe-hopping, but it didn’t seem like either man could see him at all.

“I’ll go find out what’s happened,” Harry said as he sat up, kissing Louis. He reached for his clothes. “I’m sure it’s nothing. You go on back to sleep.”

Louis’ counterpart was starting to look panicked. “I’ll come with you.”

He started to pull on his clothes, too. The two men left the cabin and Louis followed, emerging into the hallway. It was empty.

Louis looked up and down the corridor. Dread and fear started to creep up his back, tickling his neck and grabbing hold of his brain. It couldn’t be. 

“Is everything all right?” Harry asked a steward he had stopped in his tracks. “It seems as though the engines have stopped.”

As if it couldn’t get any worse, the steward painted on the fakest show of cheer Louis had ever seen. “Probably just thrown a propeller blade, gents.”

Harry was speaking, now, but Louis had become distracted. He was looking at his counterpart, who had frozen in place and was staring down the hallway in fear.

“Louis? What’s wrong?”

Louis watched as his counterpart pointed a trembling finger down the corridor. The nagging feeling that had been tugging at him since he zapped into this universe now hit him full force like a punch to the face, a kick to the gut, his worst fear realised.

He was on the Titanic, and there was water slowly spreading across the floor of the corridor. 

As Louis turned to look at his counterpart and Harry, all hell broke loose. Doors flew open and stewards appeared as if from nowhere and his counterpart was yelling, yelling in such a horrified manner that Louis burst into tears. The noise his counterpart was making cut straight through Louis’ skull and he clutched his head, trying to focus on anything but the yelling or his own sobbing or the rough feeling of carpet along his left arm. He was back home.

Louis couldn’t do anything but lay on his side, trembling. He was on the landing, which was strange because he had been in his bedroom when he had left. Louis clutched at the sides of his head and sobbed, rocking slightly and replaying the image of the water in the corridor over and over.

“Why,  _ why?”  _ he cried out. “Why is this happening to me?”

He curled up into the foetal position and tried his best to breathe lest he had a panic attack. 

Those poor boys. The horrific, terrible truth was staring them in the face. Louis didn’t even have a chance to warn them, not that they could even see him. 

Louis rolled onto his front and crawled a few inches on his hands and knees before he managed to pull himself up. He couldn’t just lay on the floor crying. He had to know.

He hurried to his room and yanked open his laptop. His clumsy, trembling fingers did their best to type  _ titanic passenger list,  _ and Google corrected his mistakes.

He searched several websites that claimed to have comprehensive passenger lists, and none of them listed either a Tomlinson or a Styles. Louis slammed his hand down on his touch pad in frustration.

“God!” he huffed. 

The whole thing was just too complex to get his head around. Were these people a figment of his imagination? Because if they weren’t, there was a version of himself and a version of Harry somewhere who might be dying. Drowning. Struggling.

He slammed his laptop shut. He was sick of all of this. His biggest worry an hour ago was the fact he hadn’t been allowed to come but now he had been snatched away, knowing that those two men - boys, really - were staring death in the face and he was completely helpless. They might have ceased to exist as soon as Louis left their universe, but Louis was haunted every second by their young, honest faces. Bright eyed and in love. 

Had they set off together to start a new life in America? They had their whole lives ahead of them to enjoy the wonderful experience of being in love. But now…

Louis stood, sniffing and wiping his nose on his sleeve. He couldn’t dwell. He couldn’t let himself dwell.

-

All Louis did for the next few days was dwell.

A million different scenarios played in his head. Harry and Louis getting into a lifeboat. Harry and Louis drowning. One of them being saved and one of them dying. The pair of them frozen in place, frozen in time and waiting for Louis to pop in again so their story could resume.

After a few days - he hadn’t even been granted the sweet relief of having another Harry to think about - he started to think less and less about the Titanic and more and more about his own, missing Harry. Was he elsewhere? Was he hanging in some kind of limbo? Was he  _ dead? _

Every memory Louis had of Harry felt traumatic to recall. Watching romcoms in Louis’ living room. Nude Blog Harry unzipping his jeans. Visiting Harry at his cinema job. Watching Harry talk to the Titanic steward. 

The worst of it all was he had no one to talk to about it. No one knew who Harry was and he really didn’t want to risk trying to tell anyone about the whole universe-hopping thing. He felt close to collapsing under the weight of his own problems and he had no idea whatsoever how to resolve it. He had a doctor’s appointment in ten days but until then, he was going to have to just… suffer.

He woke up one morning and actually considered going to uni, if he hadn’t already been kicked off his course.

That was, until he became dizzy, and everything went black.

Panic set in immediately when he realised not only was he not in a bathtub, he wasn’t on solid ground nor against a wall, and in fact he was submerged in water. He started to flap his arms and legs in utter panic. He must have gone back to the Titanic universe, only he was drowning and had no chance of saving the boys if he was on the brink of death. He gave up. He accepted his fate. He let his body go limp, no longer willing to struggle. Could he even die in another universe?

Once he had let go of his panic, he realised that the water wasn’t cold. It was lovely and warm, actually.

Louis came to his senses and swam upwards. He broke the surface, gasping for air in relief. He wasn’t in the sea, he wasn’t drowning. He was in a very cosy, very lavish indoor pool.

“Oi!”

Louis drifted back against the side of the pool as a figure cut through the water towards him. Harry, presumably. Although… the closer he came, the more curious he felt. This Harry was far different than any of the others and in fact…

He was old. Short, grey hair. Rather weathered.

“Where the bloody hell did you come from?” Harry asked him. “Who are you, Harry Potter or someth-”

Harry stopped as he came within six feet of Louis. His eyebrows shot up and he stared in disbelief. 

_ “Louis?” _ Harry shook his head as if to shift the cobwebs. “Now, there’s ageing well, and there’s… time travel.”

“Not exactly,” Louis said wearily. 

“Are you… his son?” Harry offered.

“Nope.” Louis sighed. He couldn’t be bothered to put on a front anymore. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“But… are you Louis?”

Louis huffed out a laugh. “I am. I am Louis from… elsewhere.”

“So, do you know me? Where you’re from.”

Louis sighed again and smiled placatingly. “As I said, you won’t believe me. I barely even believe me. But I’m from an… alternate universe, or something?”

Harry stared at him, frowning.

“Um…” Louis continued. “I know you… well, I know a  _ version _ of you. You’re my best friend, and you’re nineteen.”

“Ah, nineteen,” Harry replied dreamily. “So that would make you…. Twenty-one?”

“Yeah.”

Harry stifled a smirk. “I see. So, why are you here?”

“I don’t know!” Louis whined before frowning at Harry. “Do you actually believe me? How can you possibly believe me?”

“Oh, Louis.” Harry leaned on the side of the pool next to Louis. “I took a lot of drugs in my youth, so this isn’t that weird compared to some of the things I’ve experienced. I mean, I mostly assume this is something going on inside my head…”

“Hey, me too!” Louis laughed. “Maybe we’re just in each other’s heads.”

“Maybe,” Harry said. “Tell me what happened.”

Louis looked at him for a second before sighing. “Well, one morning I woke up and you- um… Harry… had just disappeared. And not only that, but nobody knew who he was. It was like he had never existed.”

“God. That must’ve been horrible.”

“Yeah! Well, next thing I know I’ve fainted in the street and woken up in some random bathtub. I go into the bedroom and there’s some random Harry in there who plants a big kiss on me and starts saying something about a supermarket.”

“So weird.”

Louis shrugged. “Then it just kept happening. Do you wanna know the weirdest thing, though?”

“Go on.”

“In every single universe I… zapped into, Harry and the version of me have been romantically involved, or well on the way. I hadn’t seen him in that way at all, you know, before all this. He was just my best friend. And now…”

“Now you’re seeing him in a different light?”

Louis tilted his head. “How do you know me?”

Harry let out a little laugh. “Oh, gosh. You might not be ready for this.”

“Tell me!”

Harry chewed his bottom lip and leaned back against the side of the pool to kick his feet up. He sniffed before taking a deep breath.

“I’m actually a famous singer. Well, I was. I’m now all washed up and past it. Anyway… you were a groupie.”

“A groupie?!”

“A groupie. When we were young, around your age. We, um… we had a lot of fun.”

Louis couldn’t help but grin. “Okay. What about now?”

“Well,  _ now,  _ I haven’t seen you in… God. Thirty years, or something.”

Louis nodded thoughtfully. There was something just so curious about this version of Harry. He had a type of self-assurance, comfort in his own body that only an older person could have, but underneath all of that came a sense of sadness. 

“I don’t know how long I’ll be here,” Louis told Harry. “I can’t control it. At some point, I’ll just disappear and end up back wherever I was when I fainted.”

Harry turned around and folded his arms on the edge of the pool, leaning his head on his bicep. “So, did you talk to these Harrys?”

“Some of them.” Louis felt a blush creeping up. “Kissed a few.”

“Ha! Is that right?”

“Actually… one of them gave me a blow job.”

“Louis!” Harry laughed in surprise.

“Well, he was naked! And sexy! Anyway, just as I was about to come, I was thrown right back to my real life. It pissed me off.”

Harry laughed again. He regarded Louis for a few seconds before nudging him.

“So, what you’re saying is that you’re coming around to the idea of being with him.”

“I think this entire thing has just been about my subconscious trying to drill into my thick skull that I’m in love with him.”

Harry shrugged. “Could be. Fancy getting out of here and having a drink?”

“I mean, I’ll probably disappear any minute, but let’s try.”

Harry swam over to the ladder and pulled himself out of the pool. Louis did the same, stopping on the ladder to let the water seep out of his clothing. He was fully dressed, and as he got out of the pool he shivered despite the ambient temperature.

“Oh, darling!” Harry grinned and threw a towel at him. “I’ll fetch you some dry clothes.”

Louis watched Harry disappear upstairs. He really did expect to be pulled away at any moment, and so he just wanted to get the last glimpse of Harry. He sighed once Harry was out of sight and pulled his t-shirt off. It hit the floor with a wet slap and he wrapped the towel around his shoulders.

The place was amazing. There was a bar at the side of the pool, a sauna, and a seating area with a TV mounted on the wall. Louis reckoned it must be quite nice to be rich. He quickly stripped off the rest of his clothes and wrapped the towel around his waist, just in time as Harry was returning.

“Oh!” Harry smirked. “It’s that kind of party?”

Louis snorted as he snatched the joggers and t-shirt from Harry. 

“Turn around.”

Harry obliged, laughing. “I’ve seen it all already.”

“It’s not necessarily the same,” Louis said as he pulled the joggers on. “Okay, you can turn back.”

Harry turned around and focused his attention on Louis’ chest and torso. Louis quickly pulled the t-shirt over his head.

“You know, Harry, I still think it’s weird that you’re not freaked out by all of this.”

“I told you, I’ve seen stranger things. Anyway, I’m fifty-nine. I haven’t got time to be surprised all the time.”

Louis rolled his eyes. “What are you on about?”

“I’m very old.”

“Sixty is not that old.”

“I’m fifty-nine!”

Louis giggled as he followed Harry upstairs. The house itself was equally as impressive as the basement, but what surprised Louis the most once they sat down on the sofa together was that he was still here.

“Why don’t you tell me about us?” Louis asked.

“Well. We slept together for years and years. Like, I won’t lie to you. It was good sex. A lot of dirty sex, too, God, sometimes we-”

“Please,” Louis said with a groan. “Move past that bit.”

“Sometimes, I felt like I wanted to be with you. Properly. But, well… I wasn’t exactly in the right headspace. And then you disappeared. One day I just never saw you again.”

“Not… disappeared?” Louis asked, shuffling closer. “Not like my Harry?”

“Oh, no. You sent a text to Liam - that’s my manager - to tell him you’d met someone and you couldn’t see me anymore.”

“I dumped you by text?!”

Harry shrugged. “It wasn’t really like that. It was just sex.”

“Still seems a bit shitty.”

“It wasn’t easy but… yeah. Haven’t seen you since.”

Something about it didn’t seem right to Louis. In every universe he had been to, he and Harry had either been romantically involved or were about to be. But this? This was so completely different. This Harry and his Louis had lost touch some thirty years ago and Louis had a weird feeling. They weren’t together. They weren’t soulmates. They would probably never meet again.

What the hell was the universe trying to tell him?

“I don’t understand me being here,” Louis admitted.

Harry looked at him. “You mean because all the other Louis and Harrys have been together?”

Louis nodded. “Together, or at least in each other’s lives.”

This Harry was really easy to talk to, to open up to. Having someone that believed what he was saying was working wonders, and he knew full well he would never find another person who believed him. Maybe that was why he was here.

Harry sighed. “Well. After you left, I missed you. A lot. I hoped that I’d see you again, that you’d come back, but you never did. For a while I clung to that hope because that first year or so, I convinced myself that we were destined to be together.”

Louis hummed thoughtfully. Maybe he was here to be with this Harry. It didn’t bother him that he was older, and in fact he found him quite sexy. He shuffled even closer.

“Harry, we’ve been together in, like, six universes that I’ve visited. It has to mean something. We’re soulmates. We  _ are _ destined to be together. In every universe.”

“You do realise that thirty years is longer than you’ve been alive?”

Louis smiled and stroked Harry’s cheek with the back of his finger. “I reckon he’s coming back to you.”

“Whatever.”

“I bet you. And until then… I’m here.”

Harry turned his head and tried to give Louis a sassy look, but his eyes fell to where Louis’ tongue darted out to lick over his lips. Louis slid his fingers around the back of Harry’s neck and pulled him in for a tentative kiss.

Harry sighed through his nose and after a couple of seconds, he pulled away.

“Come on, Lou. This isn’t right.”

“What’s the harm?” Louis asked quietly. “It’s not as if it’s gonna get complicated. I’ll disappear soon.”

Harry looked so conflicted that Louis wanted to giggle. He leaned in and brushed his lips against Harry’s.

“Just a kiss, then,” Harry relented, pulling Louis in again. 

Louis slipped his tongue into Harry’s mouth almost immediately. Louis couldn’t bear it, knowing now that he and Harry belonged together and that he was attracted to him without being able to do anything about it. The one time he tried, he wasn’t allowed to finish. He wasn’t going to lose this chance.

The kiss was already heating up and so Louis placed his hands on Harry’s shoulders and straddled his lap. Harry groaned loudly in mild protest, even as his hands went straight to cup Louis’ bum.

“Louis!” he whined. “We can’t.”

“We can, love.” Louis kissed him again.

“You’re twenty-one. I’m fifty-nine.”

Louis smiled reassuringly. “It’s me. Okay? Did you have sex with me when I was twenty-one?”

Harry smiled and sighed. “You were twenty-one when we met.”

“I might never get my own Harry back. I want to know what it feels like to be with you.” Louis rolled his eyes. “And I wanna come this time.”

“Okay,” Harry said quietly. 

Louis started to rock his hips gently, grinding his erection against Harry. Harry slipped his hands under Louis’ waistband and squeezed at the supple flesh of his arse.

“I missed this,” Harry whispered. “I missed you.”

“Me too.”

Louis didn’t even know what he meant. He missed his Harry, and he wanted him back so badly so he could take him out on a date, or whatever. Start the rest of their lives. But being with Harry like this felt like coming home in a strange sort of way and he didn’t care if Harry was nineteen or fifty-nine, he loved him.

“This is a bit embarrassing,” Harry murmured. “But I require… prescribed help to get an erection.”

“It’s okay, baby.” Louis mouthed at Harry’s neck. “I’ll fuck you.”

“No.” Harry pulled his hands away from Louis’ bum and teased his fingers around to the front of his joggers. “Let me take care of you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Will you just keep kissing me?”

Louis stared at Harry as he pulled Louis’ joggers down over his cock. His eyebrows twitched as he looked down at it for a second before wrapping his right hand around it.

Louis closed his eyes and let out a breath. Harry started to move his hand and Louis kissed him, the pair of them moving in tandem as their mouths sloppily moved together, tongues dancing and Harry pumping his hand, slowly but firmly. It was deeply satisfying to Louis, and he wondered if it was some sort of technique that had proved popular with his counterpart in the past.

“Harry,” Louis panted against his mouth. “You’re amazing.”

Harry grunted and twisted his fist. “Getting close?”

_ “Yes, _ baby.” Louis let out a groan. “So close.”

“My… um…” Harry let out a breathy laugh. “My arthritis.”

“Oh! Go easy, babe. Thumb over my tip.”

Harry obliged and Louis threw his head back and bit his lip. He was super close, but he could feel Harry’s grip weakening and so he braced himself on Harry’s shoulders and tried his best to thrust up into Harry’s fist. 

“I’m cl- close… Harry…”

Louis looked into Harry’s eyes as he came, so happy to still be in the moment as he spilled over Harry’s hand. They kissed as Louis rode through his orgasm and afterwards, they held each other as they caught their breath.

“Lou, I love you,” Harry whispered.

“Oh, Harry.” Louis sighed. “I love you, too.”

This crept up on him. He was in love with Harry, no matter what universe he was in.

“Harry?”

“Hm?”

“I think I’m stuck here.”

“No,” Harry replied sadly. “You’ll be taken from me soon.”

Louis kissed him once again and groaned when he felt his head starting to spin.

“It’s happening,” he said. “I’m going.”

Harry sighed. “Bye, Louis.”

“Bye, Harry.” Even as Louis finished speaking, he found himself back in his room. 

-

For the rest of the day, he stayed curled up in a ball on his bed, staring into the distance but not seeing. He knew for certain that this was it, now. He would spend the rest of his sad life swimming across hundreds of universes, encountering different Harrys that he could have for a matter of minutes before being snatched away for the next universe. He would never have his own Harry back.

He finally changed position, laying on his side facing the wall and he started to cry. He closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath, and when he opened his eyes again he was no longer in his bed.

He wasn’t in a bathtub, or a cabin, or a pool. He was… he didn’t even know where he was, except that it was white. There were no walls or ceilings, nothing but white as far as the eye could see. It didn’t make sense, but then again, when did any of this?

“Hiii!”

Louis spun around and came face to face with Harry. It was plain as day to Louis that it was his Harry. The hair, the style, the way he held himself. The way he was grinning at Louis.

“Don’t  _ hi _ me!” Louis laughed in surprise. “Do you realise how many universes I’ve crossed, trying to find you?”

Harry smirked and folded his arms. “Yeah. I know everything, silly.”

Louis walked over to him and swatted him on the arm. “Well? What the fuck was it all about?”

“You wouldn’t be here with me if you hadn’t already figured it out.”

“Whatever.” Louis rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Go on, then. Where are we?”

“Well, Mr. Tomlinson. While you’ve been speeding through the multiverse, you have probably picked up on a few things.”

“I’ve been speeding through the multiverse for a few weeks now, Harry. Safe to say I’m a bit bored of the whole thing. Just tell me where we are.”

“We are on a blank page,” Harry said importantly. “Our blank page. It’s up to you to write our story.”

Louis scoffed before laughing. “What? That is so cheesy, Harry.”

“No it’s not!” Harry laughed. “Anyway. This is all in your imagination, so you must be the cheesy one.”

Louis rolled his eyes, looking up and realising once again there was no ceiling, or indeed any shape to wherever they were. It was even creepier than all the other universes.

“Does that mean all the other universes were in my imagination, too?”

“That’s really not for me to say,” Harry replied awkwardly. “If you don’t know, then I don’t know.”

“Fine, okay. So, what now? Do I need to actually start writing or something?”

“Don’t be silly!” Harry giggled.

Louis let out a frustrated growl. Was his own Harry always this annoying? The others weren’t. Probably because he came onto almost every one of them.

“Harry? Come here.”

Harry walked over in mild interest and Louis slipped his arms around Harry’s neck. He moved in for a kiss and Harry took a step backwards.

“Oi!” Harry shook his head, smile dancing on his lips. “Save it for real life, Louis.”

“So tell me how to get back there!”

“To wake up, you need to go to sleep.”

“What?”

“Lay down and go to sleep.” Harry threw his hands in the air and shook his head again. “You’re so annoying.”

“You’re one to talk,” Louis retorted as he lay down on the floor. “Wouldn’t even kiss me.”

“Goodnight, Louis,” Harry said, amused.

-

Louis woke up feeling rested after what felt like a dreamless sleep, but the blank page stuff started to come back to him. He pulled his duvet over his head and groaned. It felt like an ending, and as much as he hated the idea of having  _ no _ Harry in his life, he was prepared to accept a miserable life in this universe if it meant he didn’t have to zoom through the multiverse. It was starting to make him nauseous and his muscles ached.

He pulled the duvet from his head and tucked it under his chin, staring at the ceiling. He would absolutely go to uni today. Wait, was it Sunday?

His clock said it was gone 11am, and he could hear his mum downstairs singing and clattering about. The doorbell went and he heard her answer the door and the indecipherable murmur of voices talking.

So, he would go back to uni tomorrow. A fresh start. He would work on the loss of Harry and its effect on his life. 

“Louis,” his mum called up the stairs. “Door.”

Louis sighed, pulling himself out of bed. He was wearing an old t-shirt and the joggers that 59-year-old Harry had lent him. His mouth twisted into a frown. He wasn’t exactly going to be able to return them.

He started to walk to his bedroom door but it burst open and, to Louis’ unabashed surprise, Harry -  _ his _ Harry - walked in and threw himself down on the bed.

“Hiya, mate,” Harry said, kicking his trainers off and snuggling down in Louis’ still warm bed, pulling the covers up to his chest. “I can’t believe you weren’t even out of bed. Such a lazy bones!”

Louis was still frozen, staring at him. He eventually let out a choked gasp and lay down next to Harry, snuggling close on his single bed on top of the duvet.

“Hey,” Harry said softly, his cheery demeanour melting away. “What’s up? Is everything okay?”

“I…” Louis sighed. “I just missed you so much.”

“It’s been, like, fourteen hours,” Harry teased gently. “I’ve been up since before nine, couldn’t sleep. So I thought I’d come over. I was so bored. Hope that’s okay.”

“Of course. I’m really glad you did.”

Harry turned towards Louis and shuffled back to give them a bit more space. 

“Did you find anything for us to watch at the cinema?”

What? It must have been literally the morning after Louis had last seen Harry. No time had passed at all.

“Uh, no.” He shook his head. “You can choose. I don’t mind what we watch, as long as I’m with you.”

Harry narrowed his eyes. “You’re being a bit weird.”

Louis made a noncommittal noise and rolled his eyes to the ceiling. Harry was looking at Louis the same way he always had, but Louis had never noticed the adoration in it. Then there was the body language. Harry was comfortable in some ways - barging into his room and crawling into his bed being a prime example - but the way he was holding back from making physical contact with Louis right now spoke of a well-weathered crush and that told him all he needed to know. Had Harry really had a crush on him and Louis had been completely oblivious?

Even after all he had been through, Louis was reluctant to dive in. He had to get this absolutely right. He couldn’t make a move if Harry wasn’t ready.

“Um…” Louis cleared his throat. “Do you know Harry Jensen?”

“Harry Jenson…” Harry tapped his finger on his chin. “Umm… oh! Rugby guy from uni?”

“Yeah. Apparently, he’s thinking of asking me out.”

The neutral expression on Harry’s face unmistakably hardened, frozen in place as his eyes turned stormy. “Oh?”

“Mm.” Louis watched Harry closely. “I’ll probably turn him down, though.”

Harry blinked for a second too long and his face relaxed. “That might be a good idea. Maybe after your exams instead? You need to focus on those.”

“I don’t want to go out with him any time.”

Harry raised his eyebrows. “Sure. Fine.”

Louis took a breath and reached out to tuck Harry’s curls behind his ear, and Harry froze under his touch.

“Harry?” he asked quietly. “Do you like me?”

Harry’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. “Duh. I’m your best friend.”

“Harry.” Louis withdrew his hand. It was ridiculous that he was nervous. “I fancy you like mad.”

“Um. Okay.” Harry started to sit up but got a bit tangled in Louis’ covers. “That’s… fine.”

“Will you wait a second?” Louis asked. “Relax. Don’t you feel the same?”

Harry fell back flat on the bed with a soft thud. He stared at the ceiling as he nodded.

“Yeah.”

Louis rolled off of the bed for a second, noting Harry’s panicked expression before he lifted the duvet to shuffle in next to Harry.

“There. That’s better.”

Harry was looking at Louis in wonder, almost as if he was worried he would disappear into thin air.

Well, that was rich.

“Why now, Lou?”

Louis shuffled in closer and pushed his fingers into Harry’s hair. “No time like the present.”

“Don’t be a fuckhead.”

“God, alright. Well. I guess you could say I had a dream about you last night.”

Harry seemed pleased at that. A smile broke across his face and his eyebrows shot up in delight. “Tell me about this dream.”

“It’s a bit hard to explain.” That was an understatement. Louis would never know if all this universe-hopping crap was a dream or some higher magical power sending him a message but he was back with his own Harry and that was all that mattered. “I met loads of different yous.”

“What?” Harry giggled and wrinkled his nose.

“At one point, we lived together as friends and it was Christmas. Next thing I know, you’re sixteen again and you’re friends with me but only over the internet! Then you were a prince but there was another me there too, and he found me and started shouting at me.”

“I was a prince?” Harry grinned, pleased. “Real.”

“Shut up,” Louis said with a giggle. “And then.”

Louis paused. He could still hear the horrified yelling. Feel the fear in the atmosphere. He glanced at Harry, warm and safe. He sighed.

“Then it got a bit scary ‘cause we were on the Titanic. There was another Louis there, too. I think me and you were together, but I wasn’t there for long, because then I was in a swimming pool with a really old version of you.”

“Yeah? Was he good looking?”

“Of course!” Louis grinned. “He was a great kisser.”

Harry gasped and lunged forward to tickle Louis. He knew exactly where Louis was ticklish on his sides and neck, making Louis curl up his body and squeal. Louis managed to push Harry off and quickly close the gap between them and kissed him.

Harry melted so much under the kiss that Louis was scared to close his eyes in case Harry evaporated into nothingness again. Harry hadn’t closed his eyes either, so they kissed looking into each other’s eyes. It should have been awkward, and it was a little bit, but the exchange of love just between their gazes filled Louis up and overwhelmed him. 

“I know this is a lot to take in,” Louis said. “But can we treat the cinema and restaurant as a date?”

“Uh, yeah!” Harry slipped his hand onto Louis’ waist. It was hot and sweaty under the duvet, but Louis didn’t care. “So, tell me more about this old man, then. Like…  _ how _ old, exactly?”

“Nearly ninety.”

_ “You kissed a ninety year old?!” _

“No! It was a dream,” Louis said, laughing. “Plus, I’m lying. He was nearly sixty.”

“Oh.”

_ “Really  _ good kisser.”

Harry slapped Louis’ waist. “Stop it. I’ll get jealous.”

“Oh. I shouldn’t tell you the other thing, then.”

“What? What!”

Louis giggled to himself. He had omitted the sex stuff for Harry’s benefit, but he wanted to test the waters somewhat.

“It’s just… he gave a really good hand job, too.”

Harry gasped loudly. “You let a sixty year old man give you a hand job?”

Louis stopped laughing and smiled softly. “Yes. It wasn’t just any old sixty year old. It was you.”

Harry softened and kissed Louis. Louis braved slipping his tongue into Harry’s mouth and even if it had all been a dream, Harry’s mouth was extremely familiar to Louis. How could that possibly be if it was all a dream?

“Boys,” Louis’ mum’s voice came from out in the hall. “Anyone fancy a bacon sandwich?”

The boys didn’t react quickly enough, and Jay knocked on the door and entered without waiting to be invited in.

“Oh, gosh!” she exclaimed. 

She  _ always _ came in without waiting to be invited when Harry was with Louis, and she  _ always  _ found them in bed together. That wasn’t unusual, but they were never laying down, entangled with each other. 

“Sorry, Mum,” Louis said with a sigh as he pulled himself into a seating position. “You should know that Harry and I are seeing each other, as of about six or seven minutes ago.”

Jay frowned. She shook her head and gave her son a dirty look.

“Great. Now I owe Anne a tenner.”

“Oh, my God!” Louis laughed. “Get out.”

Harry cackled as Louis slipped out of bed and closed the door behind his mother. He leaned back against it and folded his arms.

“Our mothers have been betting on us.”

“Um,  _ my _ mother has been betting on us,” Harry corrected. “Sounds more like  _ your _ mother has been betting  _ against _ us.”

Louis shook his head. Harry shuffled to the end of the bed and stood up. He made his way over to Louis and placed his palms on the door, either side of Louis’ head.

“If this date goes well, I might give you a little something to compare old man Harry with.”

Louis couldn’t stifle his groan. “Um… a snog?”

Harry stared into Louis’ eyes as he slowly shook his head. 

This was it. Louis had made it back. He went on his date, and he never fainted again. 

And, Louis soon discovered, his own Harry did  _ not  _ have arthritis. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! The fics featured in order were:  
> [Take Me To A Dream](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11348067)  
> [Carried Away Like Butterflies](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9541694)  
> [When We Were Younger](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9910358)  
> [See It Turning Red ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13382277)  
> [We'll Be Seamless](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11603640)  
> [Paint The Sky With Stars](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5894419) by [kiwikero](http://archiveofourown.org/users/kiwikero/pseuds/kiwikero) (used with permission of the author)  
> [Lightning Strikes Twice](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12950415)
> 
> Phew! Aaanyway. If you enjoyed this, please reblog the [Tumblr post!](https://dinosaursmate.tumblr.com/post/171861944681/dinosaursmate-waiting-for-daylight-by) Thanks for reading and letting me be self-indulgent!
> 
> Thank you [Keri](http://icanhazzalou.tumblr.com/) for lending me your universe <3 <3


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